Bilbao Highlights Walking Tour with a Local Guide

My wife and I joined the Bilbao Highlights Walking Tour on Friday, July 24 at 17:00. It was an excellent way to experience the city beyond exploring on our own. Starting at Jado Plaza, the well-paced tour gave us a clear overview of Bilbao’s history, neighborhoods, architecture, and daily life, and showed how its industrial past has shaped the modern city. A key highlight was our guide, Inigo, a Bilbao native. He was highly knowledgeable and engaging, sharing the city’s story through local anecdotes rather than just pointing out landmarks. This made Bilbao’s transformation much easier to understand. We also gained insight into Basque culture, language, and identity. Inigo explained traditions and characteristics that make the region unique, helping us better appreciate the strong cultural heritage that remains central to life in Bilbao. An unexpected stop was Bilbao-Abando Indalecio Prieto railway station. Inigo described its role as the city’s main transport hub with connections to Madrid and Barcelona. Inside, the sculpture of Indalecio Prieto stands out, but the stained-glass window above the station was even more striking. Together with the architecture, it made the station feel far more significant than a transit point. We then continued into Casco Viejo, Bilbao’s Old Town, and the Seven Streets. This was one of the most engaging parts of the tour. Inigo highlighted architectural details and explained how the area has endured major changes while remaining a cultural center of the city. A particularly memorable moment was seeing historical photos of the severe flooding that once devastated the Old Town. Viewing them while standing in the same streets gave powerful context. It was striking to see the extent of the damage and how completely the area has since been rebuilt. We also visited the Ribera Market. As the tour took place later in the day, many stalls were closing, so we didn’t see it at its busiest. Still, it was interesting to visit such an important part of local life. Inigo shared its history, its role in Basque food culture, and recommended nearby pintxos spots. By the end of the tour, we had a much deeper appreciation of Bilbao—its history, architecture, culture, and everyday life. We also gained a clearer understanding of Basque identity and traditions. Inigo’s insights helped us notice details and stories we would have otherwise missed. Overall, this was more than a walking tour—it offered a real sense of Bilbao’s character, resilience, and transformation. An excellent introduction to the city and highly recommended. 👀 The meeting point was very easy to find. I would recommend that the guide wear some type of badge, lanyard, or other identification so guests can easily recognize that he is the tour guide. We had four people in our group, and a fifth person did not show up. The guide waited and even called to make sure the missing guest was not going to attend. After that, the tour began promptly with very little delay. The only minor challenge was that our guide spoke very softly and had a fairly strong accent, so at times we had to listen a little more carefully to understand him. Other than that, he was a fantastic tour guide, and we really enjoyed the experience.👍🏻

Samuel did you a good job introducing us to the city. We learned about history and culture as we walked around the old town.

We enjoyed an excellent walking tour around Bilbao with our guide Iñigo. He was friendly, knowledgeable and took great pleasure in introducing us to his home town. He showed us places we would never have found on our own. Highly recommended.

It was an instructive tour. I usually prefer to hear a lot more about history but it was very useful to get ideas about what to do next. We got some wonderful tips from our guide.

Excellent stroll through old town Bilbao. Our guide was English proficient and was very knowledgeable about the history of northern Spain. Very glad we took the tour on a bright warm spring Sunday.

We ha a great experience with Sam our guide, who is very knowledgeable about all different aspects of life in Bilbao, Basque Culture and the Country as a whole. Thank you Sam!

Interesting walk through Bilbao's Old Town with explanations and anecdotes on all major sights, including insights into Bilbao's fascinating history and the Basque culture

Samuel was such a warm and personable tour guide! He easily showed us the city he loves- Bilbao! Very informative and interesting. Thanks!

Wonderful overview of the history of Bilbao, along with helpful traveler tips. Our guide Samuel was friendly and knowledgeable, providing compelling stories and information about the city.

This was a great way to get a nice introduction to the old city. Samuel was very knowledgeable and informative. I appreciate that he also showed some of the little details that made the city more interesting. I was glad it was limited to a small group and I would definitely recommend this tour to first time visitors.